A secular book about exorcism says that one thing rankles demons.Posted on 05/31/2007 8:43:12 AM PDT by NYer
A secular book about exorcism says that one thing rankles demons.
"The devil doesn't like Latin," writes Tracy Wilkinson in The Vatican's Exorcists. "That is one of the first things I learned from Father Gabriele Amorth, long known as Rome's chief exorcist, even though that has never been his formal title.
"Now past the age of eighty, Father Amorth has dedicated the last decades of his life to regaining a measure of respectability for exorcism. Despite his advancing age, he continues to perform the rite several times a week at his office in Rome.
"Scores of people seek him out. He prefers to use Latin when he conducts exorcisms, he says, because it is most effective in challenging the devil."
That tidbit comes to us at a time when Benedict XVI is ready to loosen restrictions on Latin Mass. It's in the new book -- a secular and sometimes skeptical but fascinating glimpse into the world of Italian priests who see their job as casting out demons.
While the numbers dwindle in countries like the Canada, France, and the U.S., exorcists are on the rise on the Vatican's home turf -- thanks largely to priests such as Father Amorth.
In Italy the number of exorcists has grown tenfold in the past decade, according to the priest (who is himself author of two bestsellers, An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories). Credit is also due to the legacy of John Paul II -- who made the notion of exorcism, which was founded by Jesus Himself, respectable again.
Father Amorth was born in Modena in northern Italy and has been a priest since 1954. In 1986 he began performing exorcisms under the tutelage of the vicar for Rome.
According to Wilkinson, Father Amorth accepted the task "after praying to the Virgin Mary for her steadfast guidance and protection."
"On the walls of Amorth's exorcism chamber, eight Crucifixes and pictures of the Madonna are hanging, plus a picture of Saint Michael the Archangel," says the book. "A two-foot-high statue of the Virgin Mary, the Madonna of Fatima, sits on a corner table.
"There are also pictures of the late Pope John Paul II; the popular saint Padre Pio; Amorth's mentor, Father Candido; and Father Giacomo Alberione, the founder of the Society of Saint Paul Congregation."
Father Amorth calls them "my protectors," adding that "the more recent addition of John Paul's has been especially effective and helpful."
"The demons become very agitated at his presence," Father Amorth says of the late Pope -- who himself performed several exorcisms during his pontificate and warned of the rise of dark forces both in 1977 and then in 2005 just days before he lapsed in his final bout with illness.
How is exorcism done? There is the Crucifix. There is the Holy Water. There are the ritual prayers. Many times, those afflicted have to come back on a regular basis -- the process a gradual one.
In Father Amorth's appointment book, women outnumber men by three to one. That is perhaps because they are more in tune with the spiritual, says the exorcist, or because they are special targets as the descendants of Eve.
The very word "hysteria" -- so often seen in the possessed -- comes from the Greek word hyster for womb. Greeks believed it was caused by abnormalities in the uterus.
"I maintain that in part, the reason is because women are the ones who do the most praying," says the priest. "Another reason is women are more inclined to approach a priest than are men, in case of need."
In some cases, say other exorcists, the devil attempts to mask possession as insanity. This sets up conflict with the far newer practice of psychology -- which looks down on exorcism as the psychiatrist's couch has replaced the confessional.
"An exorcism is the residue of a medieval practice completely devoid of any foundation in reason," the book quotes Sergio Moravia, a philosopher at the University of Florence, as saying. "I don't think it's crazy. It's worse."
Exorcists counter that psychological diagnoses such as "multiple personality" and "schizophrenia" are clinical covers for an infestation.
That opinion is shared by the many who have sought the services of Father Amorth -- finding relief when the devil was cast away after years of frustration at the hands of psychiatrists who saw their problems so differently.
Blessed salt and Holy Water are often used not just by the exorcists themselves, but by those who have been exorcised -- to stave off further disturbances.
Extraordinary strength, preternatural knowledge, speaking in foreign tongues unknown to the victim, vomiting of strange objects, and violent aversion to holy objects make pure psychological explanations suspect in strong cases.
Prayer, of course, also chases the devil and his manifestations away -- apparently, Latin in particular.
Bishop Andrea Gemma of Isernia -- who himself performs exorcisms -- ascribes the Church's move from Latin as part of a global plot to undermine Christianity.
"The devil is happy with the near-disappearance of Latin," said the bishop.
Does exorcism mask psychological illness with the supernatural, or is psychology itself a ruse, at least in certain instances, to prevent deliverance?
We have only to study the ministry of Jesus to know the answer.
So who were the holy men of God and how do you know they were holy?
> That is an awesome book
One of my favorites. It was required reading in Grade 8 in 1976 (Canada). An interesting study in morality: “What goes around comes around...”
> (did J. Meade Falkner ever write anything else? and was it as good?)
J Meade Falkner was a very, very talented man. He did write other works, and he was also a major British Industrialist and a poet.
I have only read Moonfleet.
Here is a neat biography: http://www.island.net/~rjbw/JMFalkner.html
Cheers
DieHard
One more post before I go to bed, if you have any questions DO NOT hesitate to ask any one of us. I give you permission to freepmail me anytime if you want it to be private and I will do my best to give you an answer.
It’s funny, I chuckled.
But the devil understands Latin only too well. Recall the 2nd & 3rd Sorrowful Mysteries were achieved while Our Christ was horribly abused and cursed in Latin.
So why is the Latin language such a hated language now? Perhaps it’s because what Jesus Christ has done to the Roman tongue. His Love has turned “Roman virtues” into Redemption. The boastful empire that crucified Christ became His champion. The story of Latin is a Romance and a promise of how Christ will Redeem us all if we invite Him into our hearts and our lives.
Genesis 1
31
God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good.
All of the Sacraments are physical, too; and, the most important is Baptism.
If we’re called to abstain from the what is physical, then its purpose is to abandon our worldly attachments (and its false comforts and temptations that lead to sinful disobedience) that we may embrace the Divine. The physical of the Sacraments reminds us that what God has created is indeed good. How else would He enter into our hearts without the physical that touches all of our senses?
My Greek student is 5, so this is probably a little too advanced (at least until he’s 6).
The increased opposition the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, the Bride of Christ, that we are seeing in recent years, including (especially) by others who call themselves Christian, should just be seen as a sign of something great! But it will be God who gives the increase and it will be done within our individual weakness...so that the power will be known to be of God and not of man.
**************
Thank you for an uplifting post, mark. I do agree.
His first book, A Pocket Guide to Oxfordshire was published in 1894. This was followed by The Lost Stradivarius (1895), Moonfleet (1896) and, in 1899, A History of Oxfordshire. His last books were A Pocket Guide to Berkshire (1902), and The Nebuly Coat (1903).
I quickly scanned The Lost Stradivarius which is on line -- it's just not that good, it's a misch-masch of musical minutiae of interest only to a musician and not defined. (For example he mentions a "sordino" - twice -without saying what it is - THAT is obscure.) The language is too highflown for the speakers, the conversations are not believable, and the plot (a ghost story) is pretty disjointed and very unsatisfactorily resolved.
LOL! There must be a “First Steps in Greek” book somewhere, for the really little ones!
I'm sorry, but I just don't believe that. I've been a Methodist for all of my almost 50 years. We definitely have many differing theological views, but "anti-Catholic?" I never heard or read such stuff. I also don't recall taking tests when I was confirmed, either, so this just doesn't ring true to me.
So I've been there, done that.
Do FReepmail me if I can answer any questions at all.
The only thing I would caution you about is that there are Catholic churches and Catholic churches. We still have some hippy holdouts and liberal loons running some parishes, sort of quasi-Episcopalians (I wish we could trade them to the Piskies for any orthodox who are still hanging around over there). I don't think most of them are malicious or anything - more sincere but misguided and not understanding where the Episcopalian mindset ultimately leads - but if you ran up against some of those folks on your first visit you might get the wrong impression.
Some good signs to look for are if a parish has Eucharistic Adoration scheduled regularly, Confession scheduled regularly, and the Tabernacle containing the reserved Blessed Sacrament in a prominent location. Another big help is fervent prayer for a leading from God before you attend Mass. We had a "prayer huddle" in the parking lot before we attended our current parish, and asked Christ to provide us with some guidance as to whether this was the right choice. He answered our prayers promptly, with good humor, and in the most unmistakeable way! He truly is the Good Shepherd!
But before you visit, I can recommend some excellent books to read on your private time. Then when you visit a church, you'll have a little more understanding of what's going on and not feel quite as much at sea.
Cool!
My grandfather-in-law was a Methodist minister, and HE was no problem -- he was good friends with the local Catholic priest (AND with the guy in charge of the local Mormon stake as well) -- but some of the blue-haired ladies in his congregation were problematic even about my being Episcopalian which I was at the time. I heard more than once "You're not ROMAN, are you?" in accents of horror.
I went and looked at some of the sample exercises . . . wish we had had something as fun as this when I was a little bitty kid! I would have been reading Homer by now without a crib!
Why does Satan deserve "rec time"? I don't know if you're trying to provide a reasonable answer to my question or if you're just being funny. I want to find out if anyone thinks that makes the least bit of sense. God destroyed the world, except for Noah, killed the first born in Egypt, destroyed Sodom, etc. so he doesn't shy away from swift, decisive and conclusive punishment. God gave Satan life imprisonment, but Satan runs his own prison and he gets to interact with the outside world all he wants-- and Satan basically tried to kill God.
Don't complain here. Call the Pope direct. His Number:
Toll-free.
American Methodist=Baptist who can read without moving the lips.
I don't know when I found them but I laughed because a few of the questions asked what the belief in the Catholic faith was and my father got them wrong and he was raised Catholic. I have the tests somewhere, almost every question was prefaced or followed by pointing out the differences to Catholicism and why the Catholic position was the wrong one. Maybe they had to take the class because my father had been raised a Catholic, I don't know and my father was dead and my mother had Alzheimer's before I found them so there was no one to ask.
It may have been 1 pastor or 1 church, I don't even know where they lived when they took the tests because they lived in many places from Massachussets to Arizona. I myself don't remember any anti-Catholicism in the church I grew up in and I was shocked when I found the tests after I had become a Catholic because I had never heard of classes like that either and I'm 53 but then I only remember the 1 church I started going to when I was 6 until I became a Catholic at 46.
I don't know when they joined the Methodist church either but my brother who is 12 yrs older than I am said that he didn't remember ever going to church until he was older and I remember being baptised when I was 5.
My mother was the one who was anti-Catholic and I don't know if she was anti-Catholic before the class or became that way after.
It’s very simple. We’d be finished the first book already, but writing is difficult for Pat, what with his being 5 and all.
There’s a charter school in the county that teaches modern Greek. I asked Pat if he wanted to go to school and learn Greek, but he gave me his Goa’uld look and said, “We don’t go to school.”
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